By Allen H.B. No. 878
77R4503 GWK-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the offenses of criminal trespass and theft of service
1-3 at a hotel.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Chapter 30, Penal Code, is amended by adding
1-6 Section 30.051 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 30.051. CRIMINAL TRESPASS AT HOTEL. (a) In this
1-8 section:
1-9 (1) "Agreement" means an agreement for the occupancy
1-10 of a hotel room for less than 30 days. The term includes an oral
1-11 lease, concession, permit, right of access, license, or contract.
1-12 (2) "Hotel" has the meaning assigned by Section
1-13 156.001, Tax Code.
1-14 (3) "Hotel staff" means someone with apparent
1-15 authority to act for the owner of the hotel.
1-16 (4) "Notice" means a communication that complies with
1-17 Subsection (b).
1-18 (b) Notice under this section must:
1-19 (1) be printed in bold letters of at least 16-point
1-20 type;
1-21 (2) be made by the owner of a hotel or hotel staff;
1-22 (3) be posted at a prominent place in the hotel room,
1-23 posted on the hotel room door, or placed under the hotel room door;
1-24 (4) set out the time at which the communication was
2-1 posted or was placed under the door; and
2-2 (5) state the following:
2-3 NOTICE OF POTENTIAL CRIMINAL TRESPASS. Our
2-4 records reflect that you have remained in this room
2-5 without payment in full beyond the date and checkout
2-6 time in your agreement with us. This is a notice under
2-7 Section 30.051, Penal Code. Under Section 30.051, an
2-8 occupant of a hotel room who remains in a hotel room
2-9 after the date and checkout time and refuses the
2-10 request of the owner of the hotel or hotel staff to
2-11 permit the owner or staff to enter the room, who has
2-12 not paid in full for the right to remain in the room,
2-13 and who fails to depart the room by the next checkout
2-14 time or 12 hours after the time on this notice,
2-15 whichever is later, is in violation of the criminal
2-16 trespass at hotels statute. Failure to timely depart
2-17 may result in the filing of criminal trespass charges.
2-18 (c) A person commits an offense if the person:
2-19 (1) remains in a hotel room after the checkout time
2-20 stated in the agreement and refuses the request of the owner of the
2-21 hotel or hotel staff to permit the owner or staff to enter the
2-22 room;
2-23 (2) is provided notice but fails to depart by the next
2-24 checkout time or 12 hours after the time set out on the notice,
2-25 whichever is later; and
2-26 (3) has not paid in full for the right to remain in
2-27 the room.
3-1 (d) It is not a defense to prosecution under this section
3-2 that the defendant purports to have an oral agreement, including an
3-3 oral lease, concession, permit, right of access, license, or
3-4 contract, to extend the checkout time.
3-5 (e) An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor,
3-6 unless the actor carries a deadly weapon on or about the actor's
3-7 person during the commission of the offense, in which event the
3-8 offense is a Class A misdemeanor.
3-9 SECTION 2. Section 31.04, Penal Code, is amended by amending
3-10 Subsection (a) and by adding Subsection (g) to read as follows:
3-11 (a) A person commits theft of service if, with intent to
3-12 avoid payment for service that he knows is provided only for
3-13 compensation:
3-14 (1) he intentionally or knowingly secures performance
3-15 of the service by deception, threat, or false token;
3-16 (2) having control over the disposition of services of
3-17 another to which he is not entitled, he intentionally or knowingly
3-18 diverts the other's services to his own benefit or to the benefit
3-19 of another not entitled to them; [or]
3-20 (3) having control of personal property under a
3-21 written rental agreement, he holds the property beyond the
3-22 expiration of the rental period without the effective consent of
3-23 the owner of the property, thereby depriving the owner of the
3-24 property of its use in further rentals; or
3-25 (4) having control of a hotel room under an agreement
3-26 to occupy the room for a period of less than 30 days, he fails to
3-27 provide full compensation for the period during which he:
4-1 (A) occupied the room; or
4-2 (B) agreed to occupy the room.
4-3 (g) For the purposes of Subsection (a)(4), "hotel" has the
4-4 meaning assigned by Section 156.001, Tax Code.
4-5 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.